question Best domain checklist tips?

[redemo]

This is my 30-point checklist before I register a domain name. Which points would you add or remove from this list? Thanks to the Namepros member who helped me to create this list today.

Domain Registration Checklist

1. Extension

2. English words

3. Number of words

4. Search Volume

5. Rosener Equation

6. Length

7. Characters

8. TLD's taken

9. Type in traffic

10. Past sales

11. Ads

12. Social networks

13. CPC

14. Spam

15. Backlinks

16. Number of company names

17. Radio test

18. Age

19. Brandable

20. Generic

21. Trademark-free

22. Current registrar

23. Renewal cost

24. Industry

25. Market trends

26. Solve a problem names

27. Looks good lower case

28. Word or words don't begin with confusing letters

29. Keywords appropriate to extension

30. Memorable

 

[biggie]

Hi


by the time you go thru all that bull on that list,
the name might get regged by somebody else

i just go on gut feeling.

imo....

 

[NickB]

I always like to see how many (if any) extensions are developed both for the exact match and same keyword/s...

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Thanks for a quite comprehensive list, @redemo - even though not all apply to all domain names and acquisitions, always nice to have a long checklist.

I am not sure I agree re English. Yes, majority of words that sell are English but significant numbers in a few other languages, especially Spanish. I would say be sure you are proficient in language that the name is in.

One thing a bit different from the radio test (which as I define it is basically if someone hears the name they can remember and spell it correctly) is how the name sounds. Some names sound playful or lively, others solid, etc. For brands, I think this is important, although hard to precisely apply.

Thanks again for a good list.

Bob

 

[NickB]

@NickB not kissing arse :o i just honestly agree overthinking isn't good ^^

Better than not thinking.....(not directed at you, for people just starting out)

 

[redemo]

Your responses are very interesting. I'm going to pour some petrol on the now. Most of my registrations are co.uk and I honestly don't care if the .com is registered (most often it is) since most U.K. businesses of a mid-level don't really care if the .com is registered IF the .com is in active use by an AMERICAN or overseas company with a different range of products and services. Because that company normally will not show up in Google U.K. results.

@biggie @noneisnone I have never used this checklist before. A Namepros member sent me some useful points then I spent half an hour searching Google checklists. It's brand spanking new today. You make good points about somebody else might register the domain first. I'm thinking this list would only be useful BEFORE auction end date or domain expiry date or if you are buying a domain from someone.

I am not planning to do any of this manually. There has to be a way for a computer to do most of this work. @vjcool231 I would find and use an API from a site like Trademarkia depending on the cost. Also thinking @Samer about your point if a website is dead or has no content and how a robot could detect this? Perhaps the bot can scan the M.E.T.A. date tag to see date of last update, or scrape other dates on the homepage. The bot could ping Google for number of indexed pages for a given domain name. There are many other quality checks that can be automated with APIs.

@NickB you made the excellent point about checking the status of developed sites. Only this would entail many hours of manual work. I'm not a programmer but I found these advanced Google search codes on another forum. These searches return indexed domain names with the keyword at the start or end, but not the middle (whereas inurl:KEYWORD shows the keyword mainly in the file names, which of course is irrelevant). These are the two query strings:

inurl:https://KEYWORD
inurl:KEYWORD.com​

You can substitute https: with http: or www. and substitute .com with any extension that you so desire. You can also perform the same search on Google search engines in different countries.

Maybe there's a script that would pull the KEYWORD or keywords from a prospective domain and send these search queries to Google. The script would then scrape the number of Google results and display the active domain names in a list. From that list the script could send a bot to each of the websites and find out key metrics to define the quality and type of content of each site.

I don't have the skills to write such a script, but I also don't have the TIME to check each of the 30 (now 31) points manually. If anyone knows how to do this message me a cost estimate. I'm interested to know how much it would cost.

 

[Charybdis]

My domain evaluation list:

Domain name: .com is the best.
GoDaddy appraisal value: the higher, the better, also check similar sales
Length: the shorter, the better. Max. 15 characters. No hyphens, no numbers.
Syllables: the less syllables, the better. More than 4 syllables is generally too much. Ideal count is 1-3 syllables.
Word count: ideally max 2 words (if the domain contains dictionary words)
Number of trademarks: ideally zero, check USPTO and WIPO
Cambridge Dictionary meaning: carefully study the meanings of the words inside the domain one by one, avoid words with negative connotations, and check what a word really means according to the dictionary.
UrbanDictionary meaning: also important
Google text search: search on Google using the whole domain name and using the words from it, what can you see?
Google image search: again, use the whole domain and the words from it, you shouldn't see bad images, and you should see images which are relevant to your domain.
Search volume: the more, the better
CPC (cost per click) and industry: the higher, the better, you need keywords with high commercial intent. The domain should be related to a strong industry with high commercial intent, see the industries with the highest CPC values here. (taken from this article where they analyzed CPC values)
TLD reg count (dotDB): check on dotDB
SLD reg count active websites (dotDB): if you have a paid subscription, check the number of active websites with dotDB. SLD is Second Level Domain, so if the domain is example.com, then the SLD is example. Check with dotDB how many active websites use the keyword example in their domain names. The more, the better.
Radio test pass? not super important IMHO, since most people will just click on a link to visit your website
Word order correct? if it is a two-word domain, then the word order should make sense
Words rhyme?
Alliteration?
Google Trends - check the trends of the keywords
Statista trends - you can also check relevant industry statistics
Historical use clean? - use Archive.org for this
Year created - the older, the better
Crunchbase companies - the more companies you can find using the keywords from the domain, the better
LinkedIn companies - same as above
Brandbucket.com, Squadhelp.com and Alter.com domains - the more domain names you can find on these websites using the keywords from the domain, the better
Namebio - check previous sales, the more domains you can find for high prices, the better
Squadhelp previous sales - also check the previous sales on Squadhelp if you have access to this feature (you need a certain number of active domains on Squadhelp)
Common sense and would you purchase this domain for your own company? Finally, use your common sense, is it a good domain or not? Is it short, catchy, memorable, does it sound good? Would you use this domain for your own company, would you print it on your business card?

Although I don't always use every list item when checking a domain.

 

[Samer]

NameInvestors.com
Dofo.com
Just enter your domain & see useful free stats.

My personal favorite are developed websites.
Deeper than # of ext —Rather Developed.(!!)

For all we know those “other ext” re goin drop, and personally, i assume garbage will drop, if it has no content — or dead site is 1 of “other

That’s why # ext took is a lazy, but oft-effective, dont forget to actually visit the URL “other” ext.
How many dead sites or future drops?
A lot, i assume, but then again, i’m biased ; )

Possibly, the best way, but have to manually audit and visit the ext deemed “other taken.”How many of those are legit?? VISIT ALL them

 

[biggie]

.the longer you are in the game, the shorter the list gets I suppose?....

Hi

that is true, depending on how you do

but when i started, majority of items on that list weren't even being considered.

one went for .com first and other things were based on common sense choices or decisions.

back then, you didn't know if a domain had traffic, unless it had overture score with extension included.
so, how can one put it on the list today, when you don't know if an unregistered name will get traffic?

sometimes i think, newbies get bombarded with too many metrics to check, some of which you can't verify or validate.

imo...

 

[Samer]

@NickB I never thought of checking developed sites. That's definitely going on my checklist. Thanks mate.

Big difference between seeing “x” taken and visiting them. But end-users using noncom, are golden, not random pseudo-ext dead not sites.

I’m scared of an over-reliance on machines lol.
But i love this thread.

Samer

 

[Charybdis]

@Charybdis I've added some of your points to my checklist. Thank you for contributing so much information. I'll post the updated list soon.

Number of syllables

Check USPTO and WIPO trademarks

Cambridge Dictionary meaning (Merriam Webster is also good)

Check Urban Dictionary

Google images search

TLD and SLD registered count

Words rhyme

Alliteration

Google trends

Statista trends

Archive.org

Age

Crunch base companies

Linkedin companies

Brand marketplace keywords usage

Namebio and Squad Help past sales

Looks good on business card

Squadhelp past sales are not available anymore.

I added the Alter.com appraisal tool to my domain appraisal spreadsheet, I think it is very accurate!

And also check https://opencorporates.com/ for the number of businesses using a specific keyword.

 

[redemo]

@NickB I never thought of checking developed sites. That's definitely going on my checklist. Thanks mate.

 

[NickB]

I'm off duty now for the Bank Holiday weekend - reading https://brilliant.org (non affiliate) - watching YouTube Videos - reading about new extensions (see thread) - Visiting Kent beaches, Zoo's, Playgrounds etc - fixing website loading issues, new pages/articles - keeping an eye on drop catch auctions and a drinking a semi/lot of alcohol (it's been a long 6 months).........really not going to deep into domains and when Tuesday arrives will have forgot about this thread........

I use no scripts - as @biggie said ^^^^^^^ maybe to many points.........learning can be a b*tch.......

 

[biggie]

I'm thinking this list would only be useful BEFORE auction end date or domain expiry date or if you are buying a domain from someone.

Hi

i agree
you have good perception to see where it fits, in the scheme of things.

as i alluded to before,
in general, a newbie in wouldn't know what the majority of those items in the list are, or how they might be relevant to each domain decision, or even how to validate, verify each, independently.

there is a learning curve involved for each item, before they can be compiled and used in entirety.

imo...

 

[lock]

Once you're hosted be sure to run your site through some of my seo optimisation tools they will produce a checklist.

 

[VJB]

What happens if there is a trademark name in your domain. Do you get sued or you have to drop the domain.

 

[redemo]

@vjcool231 I'm not a legal expert but it depends on a whole list of variables. For a start what you do with the domain matters hugely. If you try to sponge off the trademark by offering similar goods and services it's going to end badly for you. However I can register something like appletrading.com that sells apples. In that scenario Apple, inc can't do f--k all about it. The best example is go to www.nike.co.uk and it's a fully commercial computer company with no connection whatsoever to Nike, inc. There are too many other variables to list. In a dispute within I.C.A.N.N. guidelines I think your intention is the thing that the domain police will decide either way. Again I'm not an expert but perhaps a judge can over ride the domain police from I.C.A.N.N.

 

[NickB]

Hi


by the time you go thru all that bull on that list,
the name might get regged by somebody else

i just go on gut feeling.

imo....

Ahhhh....biggie, biggie, biggie.....we all don't have your years (and years) of experience now do we......

 

[NickB]

Hi

well Nick,
the more that's on the menu....

the longer it's going to take you to order want you want.
you standing there looking, trying to decide, i'duh.com want some .....umm.org

so, the longer the list, the more conflict in the mind.
if you reduce the list, then you reduce the conflict.

imo...

I agree, though that comes with experience....

Was pulling your leg, with an under current of seriousness.......the longer you are in the game, the shorter the list gets I suppose?.....starting out, it might be a good habit to go through as many of the above motions as possible to help with the learning curve....if you miss out, well... there is always next time.....

I don't go through all the above when picking a domain, but have read up on a lot it.......suggest others do the same....

@noneisnone no need to kiss arse....

 

[jiy k]

Will have to check for hyphenated words too ?

 

[lock]

I assume you compiled list on experience but it doesn't equate to a result as never know how much work ends in the resut. These are tips on what to do but best way to get tips is to host it and keep solving the problem in why lacking seo points on testing.

 

[NameFu]

For regging domains I think it's fine to go with your gut but when making a purchase for a significant amount of money you better use a list to make sure you're not buying a useless domain....

 

[lock]

I plan to be back soon messing around breaking more than fixing at present.

 

[NickB]

What happens if there is a trademark name in your domain. Do you get sued or you have to drop the domain.

Wouldn't you check before registering/buying it to make sure? Seems the sensible thing to do........See number 21 on the list......

 

[comRaid]

Big difference between seeing “x” taken and visiting them. But end-users using noncom, are golden, not random pseudo-ext dead not sites.

I’m scared of an over-reliance on machines lol.
But i love this thread.

Samer

Does it amount to Trademark violation if we offer (outbound) .com to users in other extensions? ( even if they haven't registered trademark yet)